Monday, 25 October 2010

First Lodging and Night in Curitiba

You guys must have been curious and wondering why i would know my host, Oldy. Well, it's a long story actually but i will keep it short here. Before i flew to Curitiba, Erla, my coursemate told me about Couchsurfing.com, an international social-networking platform for a free couch (literally free lodging). And i sent numerous of request to the hosts living in Curitiba. Luckily i got several positive feedback. After a quick selection according to the descriptions of the condition of the houses, and comments left to the hosts, i selected Oldy who is currently living in the heart of the city centre.

Oldy, 37 years old, a parttime lecturer of Physiology, is one kind, friendly and easy going person! I actually, was awed by his adventures at first. Also enjoyed reading his adventures with his bike, his friends and brother, Fabio. He loves travelling, just like FuFu but with his own unique way. Being an active cyclist and with his passion, he successfully did all his travels by his mountain bike, from Central America to Latin America.

After couples of private messages via Couchsurfing.com, i finally decided to stay with him. And he allowed me to stay at his apartment until i had found a nice room here in Curitiba. As time passed, finally i landed Curitiba safely. I called him and informed him when roughly i would hop on the airport shuttle bus heading to city centre once i had purchased a public phone card, BRA$8 (RM14.70 = US$4.70) as what he told me to do in the message. I got off in front of Biblioteca Pública (Public Library). There, i saw Oldy walking to my direction with a smile on his face.

Probably i was carrying my 20kg luggage, the several minutes of journey to the apartment from the point where we hugged was a nightmare, though Oldy carried my backpack bag. What a great relief i sighed once i had arrived the apartment. Only from that moment, i felt like i was in Latin America, finally! It was nearly 1pm, so we decided to have a buffet-styled lunch at Lotus Restaurante (a Chinese restaurant).

I found out later that buffet lunch is quite popular among the local here in Curitiba as there's plenty of this kind (be it Italian, Chinese, Mexican or Brazilian) of restaurants around the city. I expected to have Brazilian food but my host like Chinese food and we were very hungry so ended up eating a lot of dumplings.

Oldy was showing me around the city centre after we had paid BRA$7.50 (RM13.80 = US$4.40) each. Well actually, it was his treat. It was supposed to rain according to the forecast i had check the day before. Fortunately, it only started raining after Fabio, Oldy's brother had come back at around 8pm. Then, Oldy called his girlfriend and others over for a simple welcoming with me. After some chatting accompanied with glass of wine and beer each, i headed to the reading room and called it a long journey to Brazil from Germany.

p.s. : I kept my camera aside with other belongings, so the pictures below are all taken the day after. Due to the privacy reason, i won't upload the pictures of the rooms here. Both my host and his brother are camera shy, and i only stayed with them for a week, i would definitely take few pictures with them before i leave Brazil!

dong ho : yeah good!!!! amazing race in the philippines? cant wait! hihihi the neighbourhood is nice :) will upload more photos of the area sooner here :) yeah a nice lodging i must say!!! wanna go back visit them sooner...

Lily Riani : yeah i am feeling much better now :) thanks =p and well yeah couchsurfing is safe! just you need to find the right person that you would be comfortable with ya...but again it's always safer for man :)

Winnt : haha exactly, that's why i hate to get sick whenever i am away from home... anyway much better now already :) yes! couchsurfing is nice... just you gotta select the best from the option you have :) good luck

Woooo guest what? I've been looking up and down for couchsurfing.com. I've been to the website but lost the address afterward. Been trying to remember back the name... and here you remind me the name back. Thank you. :)

Che-Cheh : hihihi yeah couchsurfing is great! you gotta make full use of this platform!!! :) i was sleeping in the reading room :) lol how nice of them not letting me sleep on the couch in the living room...lol

couchsurfing.com??? are you serious? I signed up for that like 2 months ago????but I haven't opened it since then. I hope I still remember my pw.hahaha. anyways---you are lucky to have found a kind host.we'll people in latin america are warm ...just like Filipinos. hehehe

pusang kalye : well i got a place to stay here in Curitiba a week after i had got an account there...you shall try :) hihihi sure you can meet a lot of nice poeple ya... haha yah most of the people here are very friendly... erm also i met many bad guys there in manila >< but you are not definitely =p

stevevhan : yeah i like the lifestyle of filipino too :) erm brazil is nice! erm havent been to mexico but will let you know once i have visited the country next year ok? i love the apartment!! hohoho really thanks oldy!